Torn forcibly from their homes and their families, subjected to inhumane journeys or butchered on the spot. This is the fate that millions of animals are forced to endure every year — silent victims of the illegal wildlife trade. This aberrant commerce represents one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss in the world and is, by turnover, the fourth most lucrative market for organised crime, after drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking. Victims of this crime may be killed so that their parts can be used as medicines, artefacts or items of clothing, or they may be enslaved to become "pets". It would be impossible to say which fate is the worse.

Pangolins

The pangolin is the most commonly traded mammal in international commerce. According to a report by the Chinese wildlife protection authority, produced in collaboration with a team of British researchers, more than 10,000 specimens are illegally brought into China from South-East Asia every year. The smuggling of pangolins is merely the latest example of China's growing demand for illegal wildlife. The scales of this animal are used in traditional Chinese medicine, and the meat is consumed in restaurants.

Elephants

Perhaps the quintessential victim of poaching, these enormous herbivores are slaughtered for their precious tusks. Between 2010 and 2012, more than 100,000 elephants were killed. In recent years, thanks to more effective measures, poaching has decreased slightly, but the birth rate among elephants is also falling, and the number of specimens killed exceeds that of newborns, putting the survival of elephants in Africa at serious risk.

Rhinoceroses

Like the elephant, the rhinoceros is seriously threatened "because of" one part of its body — its horn, specifically, which has reached exorbitant prices on the black market: $90,000 per kilogram. These ancient creatures, relics of the megafauna that once roamed the plains of Eurasia, are persecuted out of pure ignorance. The horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is in fact composed of keratin — the same substance as our nails — and has no therapeutic properties whatsoever. In 1970 more than 70,000 rhinoceroses lived in Africa; today approximately 20,000 white rhinoceroses and just under 5,000 black rhinoceroses survive.

Sea turtles

For centuries, sea turtles have been hunted for their shells, used to make jewellery and other objects, and for their meat, used for food and therapeutic purposes. Currently all seven existing species of sea turtle are at risk of extinction. Among the threats these prehistoric reptiles face is also the illegal trade in eggs, which has led to the increasing plundering of nests.

Primates

Humans show no mercy and are unable to feel empathy even for the creatures most similar to themselves: indeed, numerous primate species are endangered because of the illegal animal trade. Among them is the slow loris, a small nocturnal primate native to South-East Asia. Despite being protected by the Cites Convention, which regulates the international trade in protected species, demand for slow lorises as pets is constantly rising. The great apes are also caught up in this modern slave trade — infant gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans are highly prized on the black market.